Consider This . . .

KNOW THIS, struggling children of God:

Divorce, Abuse, Etc – “The place where we are is the place from which our journey begins, and not the place from which we escape. If we cannot make good as disciples where we are, andin the place where we discover ourselves, no other opportunity will be offered us until we do. Here lies our test, and here lies our field of service.

A test is something which tries our strength to see of what sort it is; it calls forth the utmost that is in us, and reveals to us where we are weak and where we fail. The need today is for dependable disciples and for those who have been so tested that they will not break or crack when difficulties come and dark places in life are encountered. We have, if we could but realize it, exactly those circumstances and that environment in which this lesson of obedience to the highest which is in us can be learnt.

Christ lived quietly in His home with His parents, undergoing that most difficult experience of home life, with its monotony, with its unvarying usualness, with its needed subordination to the group will and need, with its lessons of sacrifice, of understanding and of service. This is ever the first lesson which every disciple must learn.Until he has learnt it, he can make no further progress.

Until divinity has been expressed in the home, and among those who know us well and are our familiar friends, it cannot be expected to express itself elsewhere. We must live as sons of God in the setting —uninteresting, drab and sometimes sordid — in which destiny places us; there is nowhere else at this stage (of humanity’s evolution) in which that is possible.

Born into the world of love at Bethlehem, the keynote of our lives from then on must be obedience to the highest that is in us, love to all beings, andcomplete confidence in the power of the indwelling Christ to demonstrate (through the outer form of our personalities) the life of love.

The life of Christ is a life to be lived today, eventually by all. It is a life of joy and happiness, of test and of problems, but its essence is love and its method is love. It leaves us an example that we should follow His steps, and carry on the work which He initiated.” A. Bailey

(And on goes the merry-go-round of same ol’ issues and lifetimes and until we do get it right! How? Start with this: ‘Harmlessness’ – read on to next article.)

Baby steps, dear ones, and one ‘issue’ at a time, if we must, for progress is never lost and the issue then never repeated = eternal JOY and unhampered liberty! Such are the infallible PRINCIPLES of God, able to eliminate the undesirable traits of the common unevolved man, exposing the character of Christ each in our own time. REST in their dependability.

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Dear Ones: Too often, now, we gasp at the worldwide and local news, for all the situations that seem to flood all kingdoms on this planet – animal, mineral, human, and spiritual. It most often seems like it will overtake the individual entities and there is nothing, or very little, we can do about it.

But I want to assure you there IS a way to the very necessary and desperate change needed. I want to bring to your attention this article written by the famed Alice Bailey decades ago, regarding this vital participation by all – individually and corporately – and the power it wields for us. Open your heart and mind to comprehend that we are not on our own in this universe and that ‘outside the blue’ of our planet Earth, there exist forces and energies that guide our behaviors, according to our thoughts and thoughtless actions. We are responsible for ALL the conditions we find gloomy and we must also become responsible for changing them.

Let me assure you that this one quality commitment and mindset of practicing harmlessness will further the practitioner of such behavior in every other aspect of spiritual and humane endeavor. Make this one requirement your focus and your very effort and sincerity will turn the ‘bowl of spaghetti’ of all this information into a well-paved highway . . . which you didn’t have to pave. It makes sweatless your victory in all other areas of your desire to change that which has heretofore been elusive. It will make clear each new step and embed obvious Truths of excellence and universal support upon your soul, causing great anticipation for each new victory and thereby sealing your commitment to this one simple requirement of ‘harmlessness.’ I say ‘simple,’ not ‘easy.’

If you find some statements within this article offensive or disagreeable, simply acknowledge that moment and regard the ultimate truth of the message; we are not all going to understand this information at the same time, as progress is just that . . . progressive. Absorb and put into practice that which you can and watch the changes happen around you and around our globe. In other words, know your alternative!

“The harmlessness to which I refer in connection with you is a state of mind and one which in no way negates firm or even drastic action; it concerns motive and involves the determination that the motive behind all activity is goodwill.”Alice A. Bailey

“(1) Harmful magnetic conditions, as the result of man’s wrong handling of force, are the causes of evil in the world around us, including the three sub-human kingdoms. How can we, as individuals, change this? By the development in ourselves of Harmlessness. Therefore, study yourself from this angle. Study your daily conduct and words and thoughts so as to make them utterly harmless. Set yourself to think those thoughts about yourself and others which will be constructive and positive, and hence harmless in their effects. Study your emotional effect on others, so that by no mood, no depression, and no emotional reaction can you harm a fellow-man. Remember in this connection, violent spiritual aspiration and enthusiasm, misplaced or misdirected, may quite easily harm a fellow-man, so look not only at your wrong tendencies but at the use of your virtues.

If harmlessness is the keynote of your life, you will do more to produce right harmonious conditions in your personality than any amount of discipline along other lines. The drastic purgation brought about by the attempt to be harmless will go far to eliminate wrong states of consciousness . . .

Therefore, I say to you at this time, I – an older and perhaps more experienced disciple and worker in the great vineyard of the Lord – practice harmlessness with zest and understanding, for it is (if truly carried out) the destroyer of all limitation. Harmfulness is based on selfishness, and on an ego-centric attitude. It is the demonstration of forces concentrated for self-enforcement, self-aggrandisement, and self-gratification. Harmlessness is the expression of the life of the man who realises himself to be everywhere, who lives consciously as a soul, whose nature is love, whose method is inclusiveness, and to whom all forms are alike, in that they veil and hide the light, and are but externalisations of the One Infinite Being. This realisation, let me remind you, will demonstrate in a true comprehension of a brother’s need, divorced from sentiment and expediency. It will lead to that silence of the tongue that grows out of non-reference to the separate self. It will produce that instantaneous response to true need which characterises the Great Ones who (passing beneath the outer appearance) see the inner cause which produces the conditions noted in the outer life, and so, from that point of wisdom, true help and guidance can be given. Harmlessness brings about in life caution in judgment, reticence in speech, ability to refrain from impulsive action, and the demonstration of a non-critical spirit. So, free passage can be given to the forces of true love, and to those spiritual energies which seem to vitalise the personality, leading consequently to right action.

Let harmlessness, therefore, be the keynote of your life.

(2) I tell you that the achieving of harmlessness in the positive sense (not in the negative) means the attainment of that step which leads definitely to the Portal of Initiation. When first mentioned, it sounds of small moment, and to bring the whole subject of initiation into such small account that it becomes unimportant. But let him who so thinks practice that positive harmlessness which works out in right thought (because based on intelligent love), right speech (because governed by self-control), and right action (because founded on an understanding of the Law), and he will find that the attempt will call forth all the resources of his being and take much time to achieve. It is not the harmlessness that comes from weakness and sentimental loving disposition, which dislikes trouble because it upsets the settled harmony of life and leads to consequent discomfort. It is not the harmlessness of the little evolved negative impotent man or woman, who has not the power to hurt because possessing so little equipment wherewith damage can be done.

It is the harmlessness that springs from true understanding and control of the personality by the soul, that leads inevitably to spiritual expression in every-day life. It emanates from a capacity to enter into the consciousness and to penetrate into the realisation of one’s brother, and when this has been accomplished – all is forgiven and all is lost sight of in the desire to aid and help.

(3) Let the “Forces of Light” flow through, and the ranks of the world servers will be rapidly filled. Let the “Spirit of Peace” use the lower nature as instrument, and there will be peace and harmony within the personal field of service. Let the “Spirit of Goodwill” dominate our minds, and there will be no room for the spirit of criticism and the spreading of destructive discussion. It is for this reason and in order to develop a group of servers who can work along true and spiritual lines, that there must be increasing emphasis upon the need for Harmlessness. Harmlessness prepares the way for the inflow of life; harmlessness dissipates the obstructions to the free outpouring of love; harmlessness is the key to the release of the lower nature from the grip of the world illusion, and from the power of phenomenal existence.

(4) I have so emphatically impressed the need of harmlessness upon all of you, for it is the scientific method, par excellence, and esoterically speaking, of cleaning house, and of purifying the centres. Its practice clears the clogged channels and permits the entrance of the higher energies.

(5) What shall I say concerning harmlessness? It is not easy for me to show or prove to you the effectiveness of the higher aspect, spiral or phase of harmlessness as employed by the Hierarchy, under the direction of the Perfect One, the Christ. The harmlessness with which I have earlier dealt, has relation to the imperfections with which humanity is wrestling, and is difficult for you to apply in and under all circumstances, as well you know. The harmlessness to which I refer in connection with you is not negative, or sweet, or kindly activity, as so many believe; it is a state of mind and one which in no way negates firm or even drastic action; it concerns motive and involves the determination that the motive behind all activity is goodwill. That motive might lead to positive and sometimes disagreeable action or speech, but as harmlessness and goodwill condition the mental approach, nothing can eventuate but good.”

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